Paste your essay in here… The topic that I am to research is black race and the economical and racial in housing. This would include the mortgage crisis against blacks, housing quality, and the issue of black housing segregation. I hypothesize that studies will back up that there is significant evidence that points to racial segregation and policy against blacks to their race and their socio-economical minority status.
This topic is so important because housing is crucial in helping individuals succeed, raise families, maintain jobs and relationships. But mostly to be self-sufficient citizens. There is discrimination against black individuals in housing policies which pushes black further into poverty and fuels the cycle. This inequality makes it more difficult to break the cycle of poverty.
I would like to focus my research in the United States with a focus on predominately black neighborhoods, for example, Chicago. Communities like Chicago has the most poverty, crime, homelessness, and biggest need to housing reform.
Racial housing discrimination is hard to see, that is why it still exists. I will explore legislature and polices that have been created to stop racial segregation and discrimination, but in turn, has just make racial segregation that is happening less noticeable. I will focus on how financial institutions have added to the crisis by subprime mortgage rates and how myths about subprime rates can be debunked. Focusing on the lack of quality housing and its influence in black neighborhood shows how the epidemic of poor living conditions continues. For example, the explanation of why housing conditions are so poor in interurban cities. Lastly, I want to discuss the issue of economic inequality between blacks and whites that stem from and add to the huge issue of black housing segregation and discrimination in this country.
Critical Analysis of Literature:
Differences in the quality of black housing can be explained by income-related and supply factors. The Presidents Committee on Urban Housing estimates that black families need two to three times more assistance than whites families in order to purchase a decent house. Studies have shown that black households have lower quality housing than white households even when they have comparable income, rental level, and size of housing unit.
Characteristics such as income, household structure, and social class are relevant to demand for quality housing. However, discrimination limits access to the same quality of housing as whites with comparable income. Black families are unable or unwilling to pay more for the same quality housing as equivalent white households (Meyer). A major issue with low quality housing as the need more affordable quality housing is that low quality housing is often crowded from needing multiple persons to help pay rent. Additionally, larger households have to spend money on other basic needs such as food and clothing. They need more space than smaller households, but have less money to spend on it. While family background is important in black prestige, education, occupation and income are the most important bases for this prestige. In a study by Frazier, housing quality of black residential areas in Chicago was positively related in occupational status, degree of opener occupancy, and education, and inversely related to incidence of female heads of household, and proportion of women in the labor force (Frazier). These findings show the relation to income with housing but also the social class dimension in the lack of quality housing for black households.
Housing supply continues to increase, but unfortunately it is poor quality housing. Houses are getting older and housing maintenance has decreased, creating more low quality housing while not addressing the lack of quality housing. This leaves black household restricted to older, poorly maintained homes. Making housing equivalent to white housing is expensive, but then implementing housing programs in it important to not assume the blacks do not properly take care of their homes. Programs should attempt to increase black resources and change racial patterns to give black more opportunity to buy better quality housing.
The pattern of black suburban location has changed little in the past two decades. While residential racial segregation has declined in the South, it has increased in the North. A study analyzed two components of suburban black residential patterns: change in total percent black and change in the distribution of blacks among suburbs. The results suggested that it is influenced by both free market migration and dual housing market variables (Stearns). A higher density of black in a central city provides more potential for black suburbanization. Higher percentage of owner-occupied housing prevents them from moving into such suburbs. The black movement into suburbs primarily occurs in regions where there is more rental housing. Blacks opt to rent because they are less likely to experience discrimination in buying a home. They don’t need to rely on financial institutions for a loan or deal with a realtor who may be biased in showing certain houses. When they rent, they are able to find rental vacancies easier on their own.
The increase of racial housing segregation has been in regions where there was already a higher presence of black households. A greater black presence in a community may increase segregation through both prejudice and an increase of discriminatory practices. The dual housing market thrives in markets characterized by a high demand and owner-occupied units. In addition, greater income diversity appears to increase racial segregation, while diversity in employment and age of housing limits the racial structuring of the suburban housing market (Stearns). The results of their study clearly undermine the conventional view of suburban racial segregation as a natural progress due to the growing and aging city.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 aimed to create formal barriers against racial discrimination in housing, though blacks still face the segregation the act tried to prohibit. According to the National Fair Housing Alliance, agencies have experienced a huge increase in housing discrimination complaints, from 5,874 in 1999 to 10,552 in 2008 (Trifun). -n property owners, neighborhoods, and local and state governments. (State of the Dream)
The subprime crisis in racial housing segregation and discrimination has hurt the success and upward movement of African Americans. However, it is important to address common myths about the subprime crisis. These myths are part of the reason that the administration has not made any steps in addressing the crisis. The first is the myth that most of the subprime lending has led to millions of first-time homeowners in America. While there as been in increase in black households in becoming owners, many were talked into buying and refinancing to gain additional cash for other things. Unfortunately, there will be a net loss of home ownership because of this. The second myth is that the buyers are unqualified for a loan and a subprime loan was the only way they could get a mortgage. However, that is not true. In analysis of credit scored in 2005, 61 percent of borrowers who were offed subprime loans had credit scores worthy of prime loans (state of the dream).. They were tricked into unaffordable loans by deceitful brokers. The third myth is that borrower can easily obtain perfect knowledge of the terms of their mortgage loans. It is a mistake to believe that buyers are fully informed. Almost no one reads the fine print as we expect brokers to talk us through it or if we can afford it, have a lawyer walk us through. But again, many people were tricked into bad loans. The last myth is that the free market alone will fix everything. This laissez-fairy philosophy has not been efficient as this principle is why the crisis has spread. The administration should not be taking a hands off approach because the crises has caused the most economic downturn since the Great Depression (State of the dream).
If more subprime loans were distributed more equitably, the losses by African Americans would be 24 percent lower and 44.5 higher for whites. They estimated that it will take 594 more years for blacks to achieve the same levels of median household net worth as whites and 5,423 years to have comparable home ownership rates as whites (State of the Dream)..
As housing costs have soared, the majority of poor renting families spend over half their income on housing and at least one in four of the poor spend over 70 percent of their income on rent and keeping the lights on. Having to spend this amount of your income on housing – leaves little room to fed and clothe your family let alone afford settling down in a neighborhood or enrolling your children in a good school. American families should be spending no more than 30 percent of their income on housing (Desmond). As stated before, because of the insane subprime mortgage rates and expensive, low quality housing, black Americans cant keep up and are often evicted or face foreclosure. Among Milwaukee renters, over 1 in 5 black women report being evicted in their adult live compared to 1 in 15 white women.
Politicians have focused on investing in new, high-rise housing projects instead of maintaining aging housing spaces. Funding for poor housing revival was cut which lead to broken windows, plumbing, elevators stayed that way; outside sewer openings were left uncovered and trash piled up. If families could move they did, but the majority of the residents could not afford to move into better quality housing.